A famous boxer died

At the age of 78, on the day after his birthday, the famous heavyweight boxer Erna Shavers died, BoxingScene.com reports.

During the years of his professional career (from 1969 to 1995), the American celebrated 74 victories (with 14 defeats and one draw), knocking out his opponents 68 times (23 of them in the first round).

Shavers fought twice for the title of world heavyweight champion, but in both cases he failed. In 1977, he lost to the legendary Muhammad Ali by unanimous decision in a 15-round fight, and in 1979 he was stopped early in the 11th round by Larry Holmes.

By the way, Ali claimed that it was Erny, who had the nicknames Puncher Vek and Black Destroyer, who possessed the most powerful punch in the history of boxing. "He hit me so that it shook my African ancestors! No one has ever beaten me so hard," the legendary boxer recalled.

Competitors in the division were so afraid of the striking power of Shavers that George Foreman somehow openly rejoiced at the fact that he did not enter the ring with him. With the boxer's weight of 96 kg, the force of his blow was 1250 kg!

By the way, during the preparation for the filming of the movie "Rocky 3", Sylvester Stallone had the idea to use a real professional heavyweight boxer in the role of Clabber Lang, and he invited Erna Shavers to audition. During sparring, Shavers refrained from strong blows, to which Stallone, annoyed, said: "Well, Ernie, show me something." In response, the boxer punched him in the ribs, putting an end to his film career. Stallone bent over in pain and silently left the ring with the help of assistants. Sylvester later said: "It almost killed me - I immediately went to the toilet, and I vomited there."

"I grew up on a farm and did a lot of manual labor. I cut down trees, threw bales of straw, worked in the wheat fields, and all this made me strong. I could hit very well. That's where all this came from," explained Erna Shavers, who, by the way, had 10 children (nine daughters and a son) in several marriages.